


Active Time

by MysteryMuse



Series: MMX-XXX [4]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Bondage, Complete, Discipline, Dom/sub, Enthusiastic Consent, Established Relationship, Gay Robots, Imprisonment, M/M, Our Orgasms are Different, Power Dynamics, Reploid Politics, Roleplay, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-27
Updated: 2013-09-27
Packaged: 2017-12-27 18:05:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysteryMuse/pseuds/MysteryMuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Maverick Hunters walk a delicate line between humans and Reploids- and the Federation seeks to control their every move. But the Hunters slip their leashes from time to time to live for themselves...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Consent

It was rare that both X and Zero were both in the same place at the same time, these days. It wasn't that they weren't often together, but that time was spent fighting together, regenerating and being repaired together, or sitting on each other's Tag Assist list, with one of them restless at the base and the other risking their life in the field. Anything like privacy was nearly unheard of; the Hunters remained short on staff and the Federation stretched them even thinner with draconic rules and regulations about active time.  
  
War machines simply weren't supposed to have personal lives, and senior-level Maverick Hunters such as X and Zero weren't even supposed to be activated until an incident of a certain level occurred, because of their deadly capacity... but, being Reploids all, no Hunter really agreed with that and so, sometimes, little white lies were told.

* * *

  
Zero jolted in his recharger, snapping out of idle when he felt vital energy coiling into his systems, flooding up his sub-tanks and priming his body for conflict. A mission... At least the Federation wasn't going to send him out half-starved this time. He blinked as he scanned the mission data that was filling his senses alongside the power. A real clusterfuck, it sounded like, and the 17th was calling for hardcore backup.  
  
Which was just the sort of situation that really needed a certain red monster's special touch... Zero chuckled, grinning ferally as his body unraveled into long strings of green DNA, flowing across the world. _What'd you get yourself into now, X?_

* * *

  
Hunters were much, much smarter than the computers that managed them. As long as they were careful, the Hunters could work the system. It'd been started by X's subcommander Mercury, who'd managed to slip the Federation leash long enough to get in three hours of personal time with the subcommander of the 0th, May (there were already jokes about the subcommanders following the commanders a little too closely) and X, after he caught them at it, had ripped them a new one for thirty minutes, as was his duty- and then spent another thirty minutes working out how they could do it better.  
  
It was just a matter of convincing the dispatching AI, and Mercury'd found the loophole - it was all about registered specialties. Every Hunter's special skills and techniques had been carefully labeled, monitored, dissected and approved- but once they were approved for active time Hunters weren't to be interfered with until the battle was complete and the Mavericks were demolished.  
  
So, if one Reploid wanted to see his girlfriend from another unit, he simply claimed that he desperately needed assistance from a Hunter of her particular specialty- and the commanders were careful to manage their staff rosters on a rotation that just happened to make it so that so that there were never any two units with the same specialty available at the same time. They jokingly called it the "social calendar", and it ensured that everyone, eventually, had at least a sliver of time to exist just for themselves...  
  
It was true that the 17th felt they needed a berserker to deal with this particular Maverick, and Zero's stats fit the bill. X had already tested the enemy, coming off just bad enough for wear that he could justify a support call, and the unit was still within acceptable active time use for a Maverick of this type.  
  
But it was also their turn on the calendar. When Zero materialized, strong blue arms swept around him, and he was fiercely embraced.  
  
 _A-ha, so that's what that insane mission spec was about..._ "How long do we have?" the red Hunter whispered, eyes widening in eagerness.  
  
"Maybe an hour. C'mon." X kissed the side of his partner's throat and tugged Zero backward into the shadows.

* * *

  
They'd scurried off to an abandoned room a bit south of their starting position; one of the Maverick's armories, picked bare by the 17th and now dark and hollow, with empty weapon racks lining the walls. There was just barely enough light to see by, and the chamber was chill and airless, a place where nothing good had ever happened.  
  
"Boy, you pick the nicest places, don't you?" Zero drawled to X, grinning as he backed into one of those racks and almost-lazily tilted his head back, surveying. Looked strong enough... he raised his arms above his head and pointedly stroked a finger along one of the rack bars before he gripped them tightly with both hands. His eyes glinted wicked blue; he rocked his hips toward X, coyly. "What do you think? Been a while..."  
  
X stared as Zero swayed along the rack, greedy brightness in his gaze- then he began to grin as he caught the implication. He traced the red Hunter's body with his eyes, the way his body rose and fell with his breathing, strands of his pale blond hair curled around one hip- oh, THAT was something to file in permanent recall... "I definitely think so," he murmured, smile spreading. Of course, doing this was crazy, risking things like this was crazy, but - he wanted this, _needed_ this.  
  
There was a breath, and they stared intently at each other, systems shifting in preparation- then X air-dashed into Zero, and caught the red Hunter's thick wrists in his own hands, pinning them firmly in place against the bars. Zero grunted softly and writhed, testing X's hold. The blue Hunter felt blood rushing to his head, gritted his teeth. No, he wasn't going to let Zero slip loose so easily- he redoubled his grip, feeling the pulse of Zero's artificial blood thundering beneath his skin, beneath his fingers. Their eyes never came apart, but X's gaze was as firm as his grip, and Zero began to breathe harder, in dark anticipation.  
  
He hooked his foot around the back of X's left ankle and carressed it, brushing his lips over X's just to tease him, " _Someone's_ in a mood, I see." He purred, "I think I like it."  
  
"Masochist," X let out a sharp breath, not hiding the shiver Zero's tone sent down his spine. But if Zero wasn't looking absolutely _edible_ , stretched out like that... He shifted his weight against the other Hunter, pressing a hand to the base of Zero's spine: "Be good and don't move your hands, then. I like them right where they are."  
  
The red terror bared his teeth in a nasty smile. "Since when does a Hunter like me listen to a Maverick like you?"  
  
X's eyes began to gleam, _That game? I can do that..._ and his body shifted. Zero startled, recognizing the colors of the Shotgun Ice. X pulled back enough to take careful aim and fired two short blasts from his buster arm that encased Zero's wrists and fingers in a thick layer of ice, freezing them to the metal rack. "Since you were careless enough to let me catch you, I think. Now, Hunter, let's see some of that armor off you."  
  
" _Make_ me," Zero spat, raising his head to glower. His hands were frozen and his fingers were going numb, but he'd never felt more potently alive; X was so good at this. He pushed at X with his pelvis to throw him off. "You'll have to crack it off with your bare hands."  
  
X let out a breathless gasp - Zero never looked more beautiful than when he was defiant. He snatched quickly at Zero's shoulder, drawing away the Saber from its storage slot and ever-so-casually flicking it on with his thumb. The green blade snapped on, and after pretending to study the familiar weapon carefully, X leveled the tip just beneath Zero's chin at the line where his jaw joined his throat. "I _said_ , pop the armor, Hunter. Now."  
  
The icy chill of the Saber's power was enough to sear, though X was handling it deftly enough that it never quite touched his skin. Zero clamped his lower lip in his teeth and, snarling, sent his system the command to power down. There was a momentary flare as his default armor faded back into energy and recoiled into storage in his body, leaving him shuddering in a conductive-mesh grey and black bodysuit. Black lines of pressure sensitive interface conduit ran down his thighs and across Zero's chest, a web that outlined and defined his slim shape. His armor was nearly half his bulk; without it, he wasn't much larger than a tall human, and he glared at X, wondering just how far the other Hunter was going to take it tonight. _Don't wuss out on me now._  
  
"Okay, so, I'm naked," Zero taunted. "Big deal. Anybody can get this far. That doesn't make you special."  
  
X's eyes narrowed. He withdrew the Saber, turning it off and tucking its hilt at his waist, then reached out and ran his finger down one of the conductive lines across Zero's chest- watching with pleasure as the blond gasped, then arched his back.  
  
"You were saying?" X smirked, snatching Zero's chin and kissing him abruptly. He attacked again, stroking both of the major pressure-lines on Zero's chest with the pads of his thumbs, slowly.  
  
White fire burned through the former Maverick, and he cried out under X's mouth. X pushed closer, nudging between Zero's legs and running his hands along the conduits flowing down Zero's broad back to the base of his spine. Zero shrieked again, and X drew back to savor the blond's exquisite struggling. He knew he was flushed as well, giddy with the feel of Zero's powerful frame captive beneath him. That body that was beginning to pulse with energy in his senses, and his own was a low, thrumming ache now- they were getting closer...  
  
"I'm special enough to make you scream," X murmured, tilting his head. Placing a series of deft, almost immaterial kisses down the side of Zero's throat, he decided to shift to another level of cruelty- one more refined and graceful but no less wicked. To touch, almost, but not quite...  
  
Zero growled savagely, jerked his arms, his unbound hair spilling over his shoulders, but even with his armor gone, the thick ice still held firm across his wrists. "Untie me. Hh. Dammit, X...!"  
  
X struggled not to laugh at the desperation that was rising up in the former Maverick's face- it wouldn't have been fair. "No. Be quiet." He pressed his hand over Zero's mouth to stifle further complaints, and went on teasing- barely there kisses, narrow bursts of heated breath touching here and there, grazing his teeth just so over the conduit line on Zero's shoulder. X toyed with Zero's body until he felt something resonate, a deep secret signal-pulse thrown out of Zero's body that his own seized on, and rebounded, and drew down into his cells; a rush of desire spiralled rapidly from the base of his back and rose through his spine as everything in him shifted, just so. It was X's turn to gasp.  
  
They were ready. Zero sensed it too; the air had become magnetic, charged up by their bodies shifting into higher gear. X drew his hand back from Zero's mouth, took his head between his palms, and their foreheads touched as they gasped together.  
  
"Ready?" X whispered.  
  
Zero's eyes were translucent crystal, staring- aching - into the other world that was rising in his mind... " _Fuck_ yeah."  
  
Then, once more, they kissed- but this kiss was utterly unlike those that had come before. As their lips met, as they cried out softly across each other's tongues, secret connections flared into life beneath their skin. Data and potent chemicals moved across their mouths, X releasing, Zero receiving, his body performing rapid alchemy to complete and unleash back into their bodies a cocktail of neurochemical fire that elevated their awareness.  
  
The pleasure of it was far beyond human words or human concepts; it was something unique, a nameless Reploid secret. Absolute synchronization, total dissolve, a miracle. It was over almost instantly; it lasted a million years. And when they unraveled into themselves again, became aware of their bodies again, they were both wild-eyed and shaking, grinning in terror and awe and flushed with pleasure.  
  
"Damn," Zero broke the silence with an awed whisper. He felt utterly invigorated, revitalized. He dropped his arms around X and hugged him ferociously- the ice had evaporated from the force of their interfacing- and nudged the blue Maverick Hunter with his nose. "X?"  
  
X surfaced more slowly, a little dizzy, a lot contented. He exhaled against Zero, sated. "Yes, Zero?"  
  
"How much time do we have left?"  
  
A sly smile grew by degrees on X's mouth. "Time enough for my turn."


	2. Dissent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zero doesn't get it; X is forced to clarify several positions.

The door of the conference room thundered open as Zero all but kicked his way through it. X charged after him, shocked and frustrated, eyes wide. 

"Zero!" X felt his face growing hot as his frustration mounted, "What's the _matter_ with you today? Saying something like that, in front of... That was _completely_ uncalled for!"  
  
Zero kept his back turned to the other Hunter, radiating his own heat and irritation, arms crossed over his chest. "Just because you can't handle reality doesn't make it any less real. You care more about stupid political _crap_ than about us Hunters."  
  
X's green eyes narrowed. He was hurt, but much more he was angry, and he couldn't believe what he was hearing. _Not today. Not like this._ "Zero! You can't think that!"  
  
The former Maverick gave a bitter snort and brushed his hand dismissively through his bushy blond ponytail. "I'll _think_ whatever I want. Play nice with the meatsacks all you like, but I'm _sick_ of kissing human ass and pretending everything's fine the way it is. This 'active time' shit is _killing us_ , and your sucking up to the Federation _isn't helping_." He moved forward, swiping angrily at the wall with his hand, tearing down some 'motivational' Federation posters. "We're no better than _slaves_ right now, and you keep telling us we should all kneel and kiss the fucking whips! I'd call you a traitor but you don't even think you're one of us!"  
  
"What the... Zero!" X broke into a sprint, and grabbed at Zero's arm, his eyes flashing. "Get _back_ here," X snapped. "We're not done talking."  
  
Zero twisted, his arm raising to slap X's away. "Yeah, we _are_."  His voice dripped with contempt and his gaze was searing, his mouth compressed into a thin, humorless line.  
  
X, running out of patience, punched Zero straight in the teeth.

The former Maverick staggered back, crashing against the wall with a gasp. His hand flew to his mouth. He felt the ball joint inside his jaw slide out of place, and he glared at X as he angrily pushed it back in position with the heel of his hand. "Guess that's it for pacifism, huh? It's all love and flowers until _you_ feel insulted?"  
  
X was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He couldn't contain his anger and a part of him, a small mean part, didn't want to try. Zero had no idea. Just no idea. He was running his mouth off about things he didn't understand. Again. "Shut up, Zero. _Shut up_! You have _no idea_!"  
  
A feral growl was his answer, Zero's energy darkening as he shifted into a battle stance and set his legs apart. He brushed the side of his hand under his nose, sniffing loudly. "Make me, then. Make me _understand_. Because I think you're a fucking _tool_ right now, and you're not proving me wrong so far."  
  
Infuriated beyond words, X let out a roar and swung at Zero again; the red Hunter dodged just barely, twisting low and lashing out a leg at X's knee. X gave a cry and fell backward; Zero grabbed at his throat and pulled him up before he could fall, yanking him close until their noses nearly touched. "Do NOT fuck with me today, X. I'm not in the mood for your apologist _shit_."  
  
Panting, one hand grasping Zero's wrist, X flailed up and smashed his Buster arm into the side of Zero's helmet, hard enough to leave a hairline fracture above Zero's right eye.  
  
A trickle of orange coolant ran down Zero's cheek, and he shoved X away with a gasp. Staggering backward, he cradled his face in one hand, holding up the other to try and ward off the other Hunter. "..."  
  
X rushed at him and grabbed his hand, twisting it back behind Zero's back. X locked his other arm around Zero's throat. Zero gasped again and started fighting, jerking and twisting, the fibers of his hair slashing across X's face.  
  
"You're not yourself," X cried, panic edging alongside the fury, "You're talking like a Maverick! _Stand down_! Right now, Zero!"  
  
"Let _go_..." Half-blinded, half-crazed, Zero continued to thrash against X, roaring with outrage.  
  
Grunting, X locked down on Zero, twisting the arm around his struggling partner's shoulders until he got his hand on the back of Zero's neck. Zero guessed his intent and buckled hard forward to try and shake X off, but X was faster. He clung to Zero's back long enough to stab his thumb down into the sweet spot, and there was a sharp click as the concealed shutoff switch beneath Zero's skin connected with its terminal.

Zero froze instantly. His eyes glazed over, fogging into blank blue emptiness, then his head bobbed forward, and his shoulders went limp. Deep in his chest, internal servos mechanisms ground to a sudden stop with a grim steel growl.  
  
X shuddered against Zero's neck, breathing hard and struggling to collect himself. He was hurt and angry, but Zero was helpless now, and certainly neither of them were in any condition to be reasonable. He renewed his grip on the other Reploid, and after a moment of thought X activated his teleporter, taking them both elsewhere.  


* * *

  
"...nghhh." What Ride Chaser had run him over? Light returned to Zero's eyes, but his head was throbbing as he reinitialized. _What the...?_   Dark grey walls, small and featureless, dim light, _wait_ , his servos wrenched uncomfortably, and he sat up. His shoulders jerked as he tried to pull upright, and hard metal rattled against his sides. He glanced down, and saw huge manacles wrapped around his gauntlets.  
  
He was in a cell. His core rushed up into his throat, and he wet his lips anxiously. Having sent his share of Mavericks to these places, he knew very well how secure they really were.  
  
"You really outdid yourself this time." X's voice, tinny and strained, crackled from an overhead speaker. Zero wrenched at the chains once, found no give, and thumped the back of his head against the wall in frustration as his memory clusters _helpfully_ reminded him of what had come before his sudden shutdown.  
  
"Shit. Shit, shit, shit, SHIT. X, I..."  
  
"No. I don't want to hear it, Zero. The things you said were absolutely uncalled for. Fighting me after I ordered you to stand down was even worse."  
  
X's voice was frost on steel; Zero flinched to hear it. "I don't want you to hurt yourself, so you can stay there until I feel like you're calmed down enough to listen to reason." _Until I believe you're not Maverick_ hung in the air, unspoken, but Zero heard it as clearly as if X had said it.  
  
The speaker went dead with a snap, and Zero froze, mouth dropping open. A moment of real terror seared across his chest. "Y-you're serious."  
  
The cold dull silence was more eloquent than any reply. Zero sank back against the wall, eyes squeezing shut, and the corner of his mouth twisted bitterly.  
  
" _Fuck_."  


* * *

  
_No, I'm not really being fair, but the things he said to me weren't fair either,_ X told himself, staring at the black and white monitor, and his erstwhile partner tiny in the center of it, a ghost in grey and white sealed in the dark. The image was discomforting to X now that his outrage was subsiding, and he turned away from the console, brushing his hand over his face and giving a long sigh. 

 _Well, now I've done it. I have to leave him in there for a little while, I guess..._  
  
A glance back at the console; Zero was curling in on himself, pulling up his legs close to his chest and pressing his forehead against his knees. X exhaled deeply, guilt stabbing through him.  
  
 _I suppose this'll teach us **both** a lesson._  
  
He shook his head, reached to pull a chair over, and sat down. He cradled his head in his hands, rubbing his palms into his temples, eyes dark as he kept faithful watch over the prisoner for the rest of the night, fretting over damage control.  


* * *

  
"Zero."  
  
The blond jolted upright, lifting his head and gazing nervously into the dark; he hadn't heard the cell door open, but that was clearly no voice on an intercom- and X still sounded hurt. Zero could hear the low, tense breathing of the other android across the room. He became aware that X was standing against the opposite wall, one foot flat against the wall and his arms crossed. His eyes, green and narrowed, were faintly backlit in the darkness.  
  
Zero found he couldn't speak, so he just made a low nervous sound.  
  
"You had plenty to say to me before," X prodded, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Are you _quite_ finished?"  
  
The blond managed to whisper, "Probably said enough already."  
  
"Yeah, I think so." X uncurled and moved toward him; Zero met his gaze but only for a moment, as the blue Reploid's expression was stony and unwelcoming. "Did you mean it, Zero? Those things you said? Is that _really_ how you feel?"  
  
For the life of him, Zero couldn't find an answer. His mouth opened, then closed again, and then he sucked in air quickly and tried again. "I was pissed off," he stammered, turning his head away. "I just..."  
  
X lowered to a crouch in front of him, one knee on the floor, staring intensely and silently up into Zero's face.  
  
Zero shivered. "My mouth just ... dammit, X!" Desperately, he looked for some sign of mercy in the other Reploid's face and found none. "I didn't _mean_ to hurt you, I just... I'm..."  
  
X's eyes were unyielding.  
  
"We're all under a lot of pressure and it just... blew up on me. You know how it gets, dammit. You know I can't think right sometimes when I get mad! Fuck, say _something_ , but don't just _stare_ at me like that!"  
  
Silence.  
  
"X!" Zero was openly pleading. He tried very hard not to let himself realize how close he was to pleading for his life.  
  
Finally the blue Reploid stirred, and he settled down into a proper kneeling position, resting his hands along his own knees. "Zero, you really hurt me sometimes. I need it to stop. You're always welcome to question anything about me - my motives, my methods, my beliefs - but not like _that_. If the wrong people had seen you acting like that, they might have gotten the wrong idea, and..." He rolled his head, glancing around the corners of the cell with his eyes to indicate their surroundings, then continued.  
  
"You don't know everything we're up against, and I can't have you attacking me like that." He pinned Zero's eyes with his own. "I've tried my best to shield you from it. I care about us just as much as I care about what the humans want, and I care about you most of all. But what I can't do is make everyone happy all the time. If I can get the humans to relax a little, then they'll loosen our leashes, but that means I have to do what they say and try to be accommodating. I need you to do the same thing, Zero. They watch us, _everything we do_. Whether we like it or not, we're the examples. We're the standard _all_ Reploids are judged by. Everything we say _matters_. Do you understand that? You're not good at politics, I know that. But you've been thinking about things much too short-term."  
  
There was no dissent possible; X's gaze was calm, but absolute, and iron lay under the even tone of his words; the strength X calmly radiated was enough to make Zero's head spin.  
  
"I'm sorry," he managed, feeling his face burn, barely breathing.  
  
X relented at last, nodding. "I know. I believe you." He let his fingertips brush Zero's flushed cheeks, and the crack that he'd put in the red terror's helmet. "But I needed to hear you say it. Zero, please don't ever put me in this situation again." His eyes glanced down the four-inch thick restraints that kept Zero's wrists bolted closely to the wall.  
  
With X letting up, the air pressure eased, and Zero allowed himself a long sigh and a thin, nervous smile. "So. Uhm, you didn't lose the keys to these things, right?"  
  
X's eyebrows lifted. "Who says I'm letting you go?"  
  
Zero gaped at him. "Ha ha. Very funny. You can let me out of these now. Seriously."  
  
"Well, I guess you're okay now..." X said, and rose up, fetching an electronic key from a storage panel in his wrist. He leaned over Zero, reaching down to take one of his arms and unlock the restraint -  but paused, key dangling in air. "Wait. No." His eyes glimmered in the dark. "You've apologized and that's fine, that makes that all even, but you _did_ attack me, too."  
  
"wha... you started it! You _punched me in the face_!" Zero couldn't believe what he was hearing. He began to squirm against the wall.  
  
"Which doesn't justify you punching me back."  
  
"You've gotta be _kidding_."  
  
X tucked the key away, and Zero's hopes sank. "How do I know you won't do it again if I unlock those?" His face was casual, even light, but his eyes had turned dark once more.  
  
And all at once the _pressure_ was back on again; Zero felt X's gaze drilling a new hole in his heart, and he returned a blank, startled look to the blue Hunter. "You're fucking with me, right?" the blond whimpered. "Right?"  
  
"How do I know for sure, Zero?" X sternly took his partner's chin and lifted it, so that he could keep Zero's gaze on him. "Can you promise?"  
  
Somehow their lips had suddenly become very much closer suddenly; Zero could feel X's even exhalations touching his mouth. An aura of surreality began to wash over the scene.  
  
With some surprise Zero realized it was because X had been nearly _bombarding_ him with subliminal demand-signals for the past several minutes. Zero flushed, suddenly understanding. Not only was he forgiven, he _was_ being fucked with; he'd fallen a step behind, and X had snuck a hack into his system while his guard was down.  
  
Zero raised his head and sent back a ferocious signal of his own, a flux of resistance, grinning a bloody smile. "You know I can't promise that."  
  
X's narrowing eyes showed that he understood; now the game was _really_ on. "Then I'll have to leave you here like this until you can," he murmured, bringing his lips to touch Zero's. "Alone... bound... in the dark. Is that what you want, Zero? You could be made to disappear here, _forever_."  
  
The blond shuddered, tasting hints of fire in X's breath. Naked power hovered humid above his lips, a promise just out of reach. "N-no. You wouldn't. You're too soft to do that. I've always said so."  
  
X pressed closer, green eyes proud and wicked. Desire pushed between them sharply- power flowing back and forth too rapidly to be understood, only felt- and he caught a signal and reverberated it back, amplified to a level powerful enough to make Zero shudder.  
  
"You're dangerous. Far too dangerous to be free." X's nose brushed Zero's cheek, his voice a barely-there purr; the blond mewled as if bitten and twisted his arms frantically against their chains. "You're barely removed from being a Maverick. I should keep you here for everyone's safety." A pause, a dark flash of green eyes, then deadly serious. "The humans would _prefer it_ if you vanished."  
  
Zero inhaled sharply, and X chose the moment to press his mouth tightly over Zero's, initiating the secret circuit. Zero shrieked beneath X's tongue, as if he'd been hit by a thunderbolt.  
  
[Now you know,] X sighed over radio, [What kind of 'political crap' I have to deal with. My 'kissing the whip' keeps you alive.]  
  
"X... I didn't..."  
  
"Don't speak," X whispered savagely, and Zero stilled, biting his lip and peering up meekly at the other Hunter. [Of course I won't ever let them do it. I'd die first. But I want you to remember this the next time you think that I side with the Federation too much.] He touched his tongue to Zero's lips, small sparks moving between their skins, and drew back. "Just _cooperate_. Promise me, Zero. From now on."  
  
Zero shivered, leaning against X and nodding. "I will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> X and Zero normally understand each other very well. But it's a fact that when they don't understand each other, they really, spectacularly fail to understand each other - just look at X5 for example.
> 
> Some editing and revision for clarity.


End file.
